


Hero/Heroine

by mellod89



Series: Song Verse [12]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Art School, M/M, Sexual Harassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-02
Updated: 2015-01-02
Packaged: 2018-03-04 22:29:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3093872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mellod89/pseuds/mellod89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I never thought that you could break me apart<br/>I keep a sinister smile and a hole in my heart<br/>You want to get inside then you can get in line<br/>But not this time<br/>'Cause you caught me off guard<br/>Now I'm running and screaming<br/>I feel like a hero and you are my heroine<br/>~Boys Like Girls</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hero/Heroine

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the link to the title song if you want to listen:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15ukJxqPvuE
> 
> Thanks to Remmy for the beta!

“Look out!”

Haru looked up from his spot in the middle of the road to see a speeding car headed straight for him. He froze. Then out of nowhere a large body pushed him out of the way. He dropped his tackle box full of art supplies, his art tube rolls away from him, the large body was pressing him into the cement, but he was safe.

“Are you okay?” The body above him moved off of him allowing him to sit up.

“Yeah.” He looked up at the man across from him. He was broad with light brown hair and green eyes, and something in Haru clicked.

“We should pick up your things and get out of the road.”

“Right.” Haru looked around him to see people pointing at him and he blushed. He looked down around him and started picking up his dropped items. He reached for his art tube and his hand brushed against someone else’s. He looked up, and it was his savior. “Thanks,” he muttered picking up the tube and standing.

“It’s no problem.” The man smiled. “Anyone would have done it. I’m just glad that you’re not hurt. I’m Makoto.” He held out his hand.

“Haru.” He took the proffered hand and shook it.

“Do you want to get coffee or something?”

“Can’t. I have a meeting.”

“Oh. Well I guess I’ll see you around sometime?”

Haru looked at him and shrugged.

“I should let you get to that meeting then. Bye.”

“Bye.” Haru nodded his head and continued on his path to the Art Department.

**

Professor Amakata welcomed Haru into her office. He handed her his art tube and sat down in the chair in front of her desk. She opened it and unfurled the work that he had in side and frowned. She laid it out on her desk and looked up at the boy sitting in front of her.

“You can do better than this.”

Haru sighed.

“The work feels disjointed and lifeless, and this is just a sketch.  I know that you chose transformation as your theme for your Senior Showcase, but are you sure this is what you want to do?”

Haru shrugged. “This is just what came to mind. I’m not really happy with it either, but I want to keep trying. I know what I want to do, I just don’t know how yet.”

Amakata frowned. “I trust you, but I don’t want you to find yourself at the end of the semester with nothing to show because you ran out of time.”

“I won’t.”

**

“I’m back,” Haru called out to Rin as he made his way to his work space in their shared studio apartment.

He pulled aside the sliding doors that close off the space, and shut them behind him. He set his tackle box on a rolling shelf, and dropped his art tube into a tall box where he stored his other art tubes. He dropped his bag next to his stool and pulled his IPod out of his coat pocket before walking over to his docking station and setting in down to play. He selected a playlist and cranked up the music.  

With that done, he grabbed a large blank piece of canvas and placed it on his easel. He dragged over a different rolling shelf filled with various tubes of paint and set it within reach. He picked up his bag again, pulling out his sketch book along with a stack of Bristol that he’d photocopied his sketch onto, and flipped to a specific page. He studied the rough sketch, and then set it onto of the canvas.  He set the stack of Bristol on top of the shelf with his tackle box, picking up a sheet and fixing it to a Masonite board before setting it on the second easel he had set up.  

He grabbed a palate and some paint and started mixing. Blues and greens swirled together until it was the perfect shade. He laid some color onto the Bristol and was soon absorbed into his next project.

With the music blasting, he didn’t hear his studio doors open and close. He jumped and turned when he felt an arm wrap around his waist.

“Sousuke! W-What are you doing?”

Sousuke laughed and Haru smelled the alcohol on his breath. “Rin’s not here. I thought we could have a bit of fun.”

Haru’s eyes widen. “I told you that I won’t hurt Rin like that. I’m working. Go away.” He tried to push Sousuke off of him, but the larger man tightened his hold on him.

“Come on, Haru!” He whined, reaching for hem of his shirt. “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. It’s just a little fun.”

“I said stop!”

“Haru? Sou?” Rin’s voice rang out, and Sousuke backed away from Haru and slipped out of his studio.

Haru could hear Sousuke greeting his boyfriend, and he shuddered taking several deep breaths to calm himself down.

Rin popped his head into the room. “I grabbed some food if you’re hungry.”

“Okay.” Haru nodded his head.

Rin frowned taking in Haru’s distressed form. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Haru stood and brushed past him. “You bring any mackerel?”

Rin rolled his eyes. “Of course I did.”

Haru was relieved that Rin didn’t press him for any more information as they sat down to eat. Sousuke wrapped an arm around Rin’s waist and kissed his neck. Rin smacked him and laughed. Haru made a plate and disappeared to his room to give them some privacy.

**

“What can I get started for you today?”

Haru looked down from the menu board to give the barista his order when he recognized his face. “Makoto?”

Makoto smiled at him. “Haru! How are you?”

“Fine.”

“What would you like?”

“A large peppermint mocha.”

“Anything else?”

“No.”

Makoto rang up his total, and Haru handed over the cash then walked over to an empty table in the corner to sit. He pulled out his sketch book while he waited for his drink and did a few warm up sketches of people sitting around the café. He looked up when Makoto sat across from him, setting his drink on the table.

“I’m taking my break now, so I figured I come over and say hey.”

Haru took a sip of his coffee. “You did that already.”

Makoto blushed. “Yeah, but I thought it would be nice to catch up since I haven’t seen you around. I should have given you my number.”

Haru just stared at him.

“So you’re an art major?” Makoto gestured to his sketch book.

Haru nodded his head.

“That’s so cool! My younger sister draws all the time, but I’m not that great at it. I’m better with words.” He grins. “I want to write children’s books.”

Haru looked down at his sketch book and continued to draw.

“Am I bothering you? I can go if you want.”

Haru looked back up at Makoto and shrugged. “You can stay.”

“Cool.” Makoto grinned. “What are you drawing?”

“You.”

Makoto raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

Haru nodded glancing up at him again before looking down at his paper.

“Why?”

Haru shrugged. “Just ‘cause.”

“Mako-chan! I need help!”

They both looked up to see a short blond with pink eyes behind the counter waving Makoto over.

“I should get back to work. Nagisa might break something. I’ll talk to you later, ‘kay?”

Haru nodded his head, and Makoto went back to work.

Hours later when Haru finally left with freshly made peppermint mocha, he realized that Makoto left his number on the side of the paper cup.

**

“Haru do you know what’s wrong with Sou?” Rin asked him while he rinsed out his brushes.

“No. Why?”

“He just seems distant lately.”

Haru had an idea of what was wrong, but he didn’t know how to break the news to his best friend. He didn’t want to cause any more trouble than there already was, so he figured he’d just stay silent in the matter until he no longer had a choice.

“New semester is starting soon. He’s probably just stressed.”

“Yeah, probably. He’s taking a full course load on top of working for his Dad’s bookshop. I’ll just talk to him about it later. So what are you working on? I noticed that you’ve been locking yourself in your studio a lot more lately.”

“Just fleshing out a few ideas before I start working on my Senior Showcase.”

“Oooo! That’s right. Do you have an idea of what you want to paint?”

“Green and water.”

Rin sighed. “That’s not really much of an idea is it?”

Haru shrugged. It wasn’t, but when he closed his eyes, that was all that came to mind. He was still in the early stages, so it wasn’t like he had to have a concrete idea right now. He had until the end of the semester to figure things out.

**

Haru walked into his figure drawing lab, and set up his drawing horse to the left of the platform where today’s model would be posing for them later. He turned to a blank page of his sketch book and began to draw. Before he even realized it the lines took the form of Makoto’s face. He frowned. Of all people, why did he have to draw him? Since the day that Makoto saved his life, Haru’s thoughts revolved around the taller guy. He was nice, he thought, but kind of annoying in that “I really want to be your friend” sort of way. Haru had enough friends; he didn’t need to add another one to his circle.

“Haru! I didn’t know you were taking this class.”

Haru turned to find Makoto setting up a drawing horse beside him. “Why are you here?”

“I’m an art minor.” He smiled. “I told you how I wanted to write children’s books, so I figured I would need to beef up my drawing and painting skills as well.”

Haru just grunted.

“Oh! I wanted to invite you to a party my roommate’s and I are throwing. Sort of a back to school type of thing. It’s on Saturday.”

“I’m busy.”

Makoto sagged. “Well I’ll still text you my address, if you change your mind.”

Haru’s eye twitched. Makoto pouting was a deadly weapon and should be made illegal.

“Would you leave me alone if I came?”

Makoto looked at him taken aback. “Uh… yes?”

“I’ll think about it.”

Makoto beamed. “I hope you do come.”

Haru shrugged and pulled out his phone. “Can I take your picture?”

Makoto blinked at him. “What?”

“So I can assign it to your number.”

“Oh, sure.” He grinned and Haru snapped a shot. “Does it look good?”

Haru nodded his head and showed him the picture.

“Nice.”

Their professor finally walked into the room and started class, so Haru turned to the front and blocked out the guy sitting next to him for the next three hours.

**

Over the next several days, Haru spent most of his free time holed up in his home studio sketching and painting. Ideas were slowly coming to him about his showcase, but he tried to not make it priority, instead focusing on projects that were up coming. He knew that his vision would come together as the semester progressed. He just had to give it time.

Before he knew it Saturday night came, and Rin was barging into his studio.

“You have to come to this party! It’ll be our last first party of the semester ever and it would be stupid to miss.”

“I have homework.”

“Didn’t your stalker invite you?”

“He’s not a stalker.”

“Could have fooled me after showing up everywhere.”

Haru rolled his eyes.  

“Please? Just for a few hours then I promise we can leave.”

Haru sighed, and Rin smirked, knowing that he’d broken Haru down.

“Come on and grab your jacket. Sou is downstairs waiting.”

Now Haru really doesn’t want to go to the party, but he grabbed his things and headed down. A promise was a promise after all, and it wasn’t like he had to be there long.

**

Music played in the background as they walked into the door of the apartment. Haru recognized several faces from figure drawing, but other than that he knew very few people there. Rin and Sousuke abandoned him almost immediately, so he wandered off to a fairly empty corner of the room to sit. He said that he’d go to the party. He never said anything about being social.

His hands itched to sketch the people he was watching. At least then he wouldn’t have been bored. He wished he was able to sneak a sketch book in with him, but Rin made him leave his bag in the car and took the keys to keep him from escaping early. He sighed staring off into nothing then pulled out his phone. Maybe there was an app he could play to pass the time?

“Shouldn’t you be socializing?” Sousuke leaned against his chair, and handed him a drink.

Haru glared. “Shouldn’t you be hanging off of Rin?”

“He’s busy talking to some friends.” Sousuke shrugged then grinned. “Besides I’d prefer hanging off of you instead.”

“Tch.” Haru rolled his eyes and stood, but Sousuke pulled him back into his chair and straddled his lap. “Get off of me.”

“Stop being such a party pooper. Rin is off doing whatever it is he does and it’s not like anyone here really knows us.” He leaned in close and whispered in his ear, “Let me fuck you. I want to hear you scream.”

Then Sousuke was yanked back off of his lap and onto the floor. He looked up and Makoto was standing above him and Rin wasn’t far behind.

“What the fuck?” Sousuke cried out.

The room went silent.

“I don’t think Haru appreciated you being that close.” Makoto glared. “I think you should leave.”

Sousuke glared and stood and walked past him. “Whatever. Rin are you coming?”

“I think I’ll stay with Haru if you don’t mind.”

Sousuke stared at him taken aback then stomped out of the room. The crowd parted in front of him as he left. Once he was out of the door, the volume doubled, and Rin walked closer to Haru’s chair.

“Why didn’t you tell me that he’s been bothering you?”

Haru shrugged. “Wasn’t important.”

Rin stared at him blankly. “My boyfriend was harassing you and it wasn’t important?”

Haru just shrugged again.

Rin rolled his eyes. “I will never understand you. Wanna go home and help me throw out Sousuke’s stuff?”

Haru grinned. “Sounds like fun.” He looked over at Makoto. “Want to come?”

“Umm… I’m sorta co-hosting a party.”

Rin wrapped an arm around his shoulder, pulling towards the door. “I’m sure your roommates won’t mind if you disappear for a bit. Besides I owe you for rescuing my best friend twice.”

Makoto blushed. “It was no big deal really.”

“Really. I insist.” Rin widely grinned.

“It’s easier if you just along with it,” Haru offered as they dragged Makoto out of the apartment.

**

“This looks really amazing Haru. I’m proud of you.” Professor Amakata smiles at him. “I think this is your best work yet.”

The series of paintings in question depict a man walking into the ocean where he transforms into a mermaid. The first showed him hesitantly walking into the ocean, the second captured him mid transformation, the third showed him fully embracing ocean life, and the forth the man reluctantly returned to land.

“Thanks.” Haru blushed.

“I can’t wait to see what you do in the future.” She patted him on the shoulder and moved on to view the other works.

“She’s right you know,” Makoto said walking up behind him, wrapping his arms around his waist. “These really are amazing. I wonder who your inspiration was.”

“You,” Haru said simply.

“Really?”

Haru turned to face him and found that Makoto look surprised.

“Yeah. When we first met, I wanted nothing to do with you, but now I can’t imagine you not being around.” Haru shrugged.

“Well, I’m glad I met you too.” Makoto smiled.

Makoto really caught him off guard, but now he was glad that he was wrong about him because the best part about being with Makoto was getting to see him smile.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work in the Song Verse Series. It'll be made up of one shots featuring various parings from SNK and Free! inspired by a song which is the title. The relevant lyric is the summary. There are only three fics that have a sequel within the verse, but other than that each story can be read on it's own. There are 15 fics total and I plan on posting a fic a day at midnight until my birthday on Jan 5th, so make sure to subscribe if you want to read all 15!
> 
> http://melloadams.tumblr.com/


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